Civil Service Board Meeting

Civil Service Board Meeting — May 5, 2026 - 10:19 AM

[Applause] [Music] Good morning everyone and welcome to the MAY 5th, 2026 civil service board meeting. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. The united states. Under GOD, indivisible. The adoption of the agenda. Will entertain a motion. Motion. >> second. Motion by board member solomon. Second by board member jimenez. All in favor? I approving of the minutes motion by board member solomon. Second. Second by board member lanier. All in favor? I. >> see military leaves of absence. See one jimmy l rodriguez police sergeant. Request military leave without pay from FEBRUARY 8th 2026 for a period of 365 days. Copy of orders submitted. Motion. >> motion by board member jimenez. Second. >> second by board member lanier. All in favor? I see two vanessa moreno police officer requests military leave without pay effective JANUARY 17th, 2026 for a period of 211 days. Copy of orders submitted. Motion. >> motion by board member jimenez. Second. >> second by board member solomon. All in favor? I see three. Take note de disciplinary matters d one through d five board members please take note. E general items e one copy of a request for appearance before the board from jose mana crespo former heavy equipment mechanic pursuant to civil service rule 2.7 concerning an untimely request to appeal a termination effective MARCH 13th, 2026. Let the board know you want to try. hi. >> good morning. My name is melissa and I'm here to translate for my dad. Okay if you guys allow me to. Sure. >> if um. MISTER. >> hey, my name is jose mena. MISTER. >> excuse me. If you could just come to the podium. Yeah, okay. Uh, state your name and your position. Your name and position. My name is jose mina. Mina. My position is heavy equipment mechanic. I work for the gsa and the night shift. Excellent. >> shed some light on this through the chair. Yes. All right. So, um, this individual his daughter asked his daughter asked angela roberts for the email address for the civil service. The email address that she gave her was wrong, so they sent it to cbs instead of c sb the looking at that email her request for a hearing would have been timely um um from the date of termination. He also did not receive the email from the city so he responded based on the date that he got his letter but either way it would it would it would have fallen within the 15 days. I recommend that he be allowed to have a hearing. Um his son was charged with criminal charges. They were dropped against him. He had nothing to do with the criminal activity. He lost his job over that. So this man is one that definitely deserves to have a hearing because he's completely innocent and his his hearing request was sent timely. Thank you. >> right. >> yes. And I mean to me reminded me that we just found out today because she showed us the emails because we had never received them. So we didn't know because they were going to cbs instead of csb. So for that reason but she also showed us the email from angela roberts that gave her the wrong email address. So I think this is um one that the board should allow. To the chair. >> um board members alderman you recognized. Just just for clarity. You said that all charges were dropped against him and his son was filed. >> no no no. So his son apparently was filed with charges had nothing to do with him. Oh. So I mean. So the son was the one. >> that regardless of what the charges I mean it wasn't him. So yeah it's just it's a moot point. Yeah. >> I mean is it dropped completely or is it? So basically my brother was the one that is running with the charges. He has a whole background check you guys allow him to see they have the paperwork. So everything that my brother had illegally it was inside of his house. That's how the whole case began. Mhm. Everything was in his house so he had to take penalty for it until now he's free of charges .He hasn't got any charges. We have to prove that from all the charges that they had put for him, 20 of them have been dropped. So basically his case is going to be closed. GOD first with free of charges. I mean we're not at that evidentiary phase really it's just should he be allowed a hearing and looking at what she presented to me today, I would strongly recommend she get a hearing. He gets a hearing because she did show us the email. It was dated appropriately. She sent a follow up email I haven't heard from you and that was even timely. We just weren't getting these emails and it's not through her fault or his fault because the email address they got was wrong. So stick for the order of the day here where we're at we have somebody that's coming to request a hearing. Um they were quote unquote not timely on it. There's a disruption, uh, or discrepancy whether they were given the right email or whatnot. Is that on the record the email that was sent like from hr from angela roberts that was sent incorrectly. She just emailed it to us. She showed us to us on her phone and she just emailed it to us. So we have the emails. >> so we have an email coming from hr from the city right incorrectly to the employee with the incorrect email address which then they didn't get over on a timely basis over to us. Correct. >> we have both. The important yeah matter before our board today. Um. We we can print those but we just got it but I think you we can print those we just got them and but I think. Before we you can rely on my representation. Right now let's give an opportunity to hear from the city. Yes if I MAY on behalf of the city I do have an objection to this request for hearing today. I understand that we got emails proof today that MR. Mayor had sent an email to angela roberts discussing his termination and that she gave him um the wrong email address for civil service. And yes, that is part of the email that we received. However, MR. Mayor did receive an email from gsa um the department um on MARCH 18th with a copy of his termination letter that termination letter details specifically how he can appeal this. He has 15 days to appeal with the civil service board not through hr. Further, if you were to look at the email and the attachment that was attached to the email that was sent to hr, it's not a request for an appeal. It's it looks like more of an explanation of what was going on. So it looks like it's a rebuttal to the termination as opposed to a request for for an appeal hearing. And so for those reasons the city is going to be objecting. The procedure wasn't followed. Um he missed the 15 day deadline and and um and the the specific procedure of how you request an appeal hearing was not followed and that's why we're going to be objecting. Question so um, if you contact the hr department at any place of work, much less something as great as the city of miami and I mean would it fall under the job description right or the duties of hr if an employee aggrieved employee comes before and says, hey, I need to file a complaint or whatnot, you know, I got a letter obviously somebody that's even coming with with their daughter for translation when it comes to I'm assuming the letter came in english, is that right? The letter came in english but also MR. Man has been employed by the city for some time and there had been no english barriers before and we I would recommend that we have an evidentiary hearing to really find out with evidence and with proof testimony from um everyone in the department testimony from MR. Mina um so that we can you know, the board can fully be advised of everything that's going on but perfect. So but for me for for for the betterment of the board here and for myself, if you contact hr and you say, hey, I'd like clarity on how I can go ahead. Is this what took place? I like clarity on how I can go ahead and get a hearing or challenge. This letter that I'm getting of termination is that's not something that hr can guide you through what your options are. Yes of course. Of course that's in. >> addition to a letter because I know we mail a letter but if if I go to hr and I say I'm having these problems because we say all about we always want to educate the employees and um you know, all the seo and all these other places and things that that take place if you ask hr hey, what are my options? One of them would be to delineate you can contact through civil service your your you have civil service rights and here's the email and then when you send an email which we all make mistakes even hr they send the incorrect email that would open an opportunity to come before a body like ours for exactly the reason why we exist and be able to say man, you know, just like hr you know, made a mistake and didn't do that maybe if hr maybe if hr had given the correct email, maybe the employee could have understood that part in english to say I could send an email timely and go within my rights since I've been an employee for so many years here. Completely understood and respectfully the problem is here that MR. Mina wasn't requesting an appeal through hr. He was trying to from my understanding and I'm just assuming obviously because I don't know um I'm just assuming based on the emails and the letter that was submitted attached to the email that he was trying to explain what the situation was, it looks more like a rebuttal to a discipline as opposed to requesting an appeal hearing. And that's just the argument that I'm making before this body. >> today and sitting up here right looking out for the best interest of the city and also for the best interest of the good employees of the city of miami making sure that they have every right exhausted to them. Uh, you know, most employees they could serve a lifetime here and you're not going to know the ins and outs of hr, the process of exactly your rights until the time of need. Right. I don't really know how 911 works and I really don't want to find out. Uh, I don't really use it. I haven't used it, thank GOD. But if I needed to, I hope that somebody can guide me exactly through what my options are in a moment like that. So it seems like you're in a distressed moment and a challenging time in your career. If they tell you something you want to know when you contact hr, I mean what do you go to hr for? If it's not for that it's to say hey, I'm applying for a job. Hey, I want to know what this is. What's the promotional process? Oh, I'm being terminated. What options do I have? Um you know what I mean? It's kind of I don't think he worked for the legal department. I mean he was a heavy equipment operator. He's coming to hr and he's saying yeah I want to challenge it. So part of the challenge would be like well you can't just come in here and challenge it. These are your rights go to civil service. This is a correct email and this is where you you know, ask them you're a civil servant, you know, guided in that way if not and so when I'm up here going to take that in, I'm going to take that all into weight into the my discretion and in my opinion so but I'm only one of five. That's why I'm asking for the board to hold an evidentiary hearing so that you can all be apprized of all of the information and know exactly what happened and who you know, the email that was sent and what the thoughts were behind the email everything. Um and I think we can only obviously get that from MR. Mina. So I think I think maybe we could help, uh, you know, if nobody has an objection, maybe we could see the emails and see the interaction change just so we could see it for ourselves, give us an opportunity just to review that. Um and at the end of the day, all we are we're here just evaluating whether MR. Mina should be granted a hearing. A hearing. Yes. So um I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for everything else. Um after that. MAY I speak for one moment? Maybe I can assist them if I can see a copy of the email and see if we can try and take care of the legalese um, maybe in a different argument or a different perspective for the day. Sure. Um, just to give them an opportunity to have somebody that can kind of speak the same language. Sure. >> maybe state your name and record. My name is chris. I work for the south florida police benevolent association. I'm staff counsel there. Wonderful. >> um if there's no objection, I think get a copy. I think we're requesting the same thing. We'll review it and we'll move forward. Uh. >> chair, if I could be recognized we don't have a question. We don't have. Uh, board member cabrera recognized. Um can you clarify maybe this is um for us to what's stopping us from having an evidentiary hearing now? Since we have we have them here. I mean you're kind of getting it as we're speaking because he's spoken he's providing documents. Um, I, I disagree with the city's calculation because he got the email on MARCH 18th he sent the his email on APRIL 2nd that's 14 days. So even if you're going from the date of the email that that we sent him, that's it. If you look at the termination letter, it doesn't tell him an email address. It just says you have a right to appeal. Then there's an email between him and hr where she tells him if you want to appeal send it to cbs at miami-dade gov. And so I mean there's a chain of of documents here this to me to have a full blown hearing with witnesses on this issue. I think you're getting enough evidence to make a decision. Um but that's the board's discretion if you want to have a hearing on this. Um I think there's been the ball has been dropped by the city and the employees should not be penalized. Um. >> so just to echo here, I mean and we can go on and ask as many questions but in black and white. MR. Mina this is coming from hr director angela roberts. MR. Mina, per the string of emails below the attached letter has been brought to my attention. Please be advised that hr does not have the authority to overturn a termination. However, you MAY email the civil service office at cbs the wrong email@miamigov.Com to request an appeal of your termination. They will inform you if that is a possibility. If you were a union member before you were terminated, you MAY still email the union at local 1907 union@gmail.Com to also request for them to appeal your termination. They will also inform you if that is possible. There is nothing more for hr to respond to this matter. So I think uh it seemed there was a timely response from hr and they were seeming to indicate him in the right way. He said, you know, thanks for contacting us here but we can't help you with this termination to overturn it. But these are your rights within it assuming your options and they just happen to send the wrong thing. So I think uh, based on that, unless there's something else that the city can bring forward and stuff at least from how I see it, I mean it would only seem reasonable that you say you know, I mean it seems he was intending to do that. He tried to send an email to the wrong thing to appeal it that way to the best guidance he was given through our director of hr. Here we are. I mean, give me something to compel me to feel otherwise to say why shouldn't I grant this employee that option that he has? I don't see it. It's in black and white. I mean and I just listened to you say something before and I had to request to get a paper to say let me see it. And it's like I don't see how a reasonable person can say this is not. So I just want to be clear that what I was saying was not that MISS Roberts was saying that he wasn't requesting an appeal. What I was trying to say is that his email to hr was not a request for appeal and that's based on his absolutely. That's absolutely that was the city's argument. Absolutely, absolutely it's not. But as an employee as as as a as a as a somebody that's not a subject matter expert on terminations or civil service rights or whatnot. If you're just an average employee in the city of miami, if we take a poll of average if you have an issue with your employment, the place that you go if you are harassed, if you're anything you go to human resources 101 like that's that's what you do. And when you go to human resources they tell you hi, welcome. You know what? We actually don't handle this. If you want to apply for a promotion you want something else but you can't contact civil service if you're a union member. I think it was beautifully responded by the by the hr director. I think you know, uh she made a mistake like anybody else did on an email and that's okay. She made a mistake. Now when we're the the right that an employee has right we're the there's a reason why this is funded and created here in the city for fairness. Now we're looking at it and we say well that's reasonable hr director made a mistake. It's okay. We're not going to terminate her. That's okay. It was a mistake. So you had a deadline. You kind of didn't meet it. You were sure clearly showing intent that you wanted to pursue. You didn't agree with it. These are within your rights. You're not giving that email at all. He's asking for right now is not saying hey, don't terminate me. Don't give me a hearing. And then at that point you, you know, go at it and we're going to and the city's going to say no, don't grant them the hearing. I mean I don't want to send that kind of message to this employee to any employee in the city of miami. I don't want to send that. I mean that's just I think there's an easy one personally. But and just as a point of one more clarification, sir, I apologize the times that I have sent documentation to the wrong person specifically with this board and other appeals in the police department, I have been directed in the right direction to be able to file that in the right with correct email. So I think that like you said, CHAIRMAN, this is not a situation where you guys are giving him his job back or lady as well. I'm sorry I apologize. I'm not giving him his job back immediately. All he's asking is for an opportunity to present his case after his charges were dropped when he shouldn't have been charged originally. So I think in the best interest of the city and its employees and sending the right message, it is to allow him to speak his piece given the opportunity to present his case to this board and you all make a decision after that. But the fact is that he did they reached out. They tried to get the information that they needed to get before the city of miami, um to be able to have the opportunity to present his case and that's all he's asking for today. That's clear any other board members have yes. >> I have a question. >> board member lanier., did he follow angela robert's instructions in attempt to contact the civil service board? Yes he did. And I like to file a motion to grant him permission to have a hearing. Second. >> have a motion by board member lanier and a second by board member jimenez. Any discussion seeing none. Uh. >> we'll call the roll or. Just okay. All in favor? Aye aye. >> any opposed? Hearings granted. Thank you. E two findings of findings of fact concerning the appeal hearing on behalf of liz linda bremner police sergeant as it relates to her ten hour suspension effective MARCH 19th, 2023. That was what. Board members we did receive an email from um attorney gibbons stating that he had no objections to the findings. Okay. >> I'm not sure if the department still does. >> is the. Is there anybody here from the department or the city on the finding of facts? Any objections? No objection. Okay. So it seems I need to we have uh finding of the facts. It seems that the um employees uh counsel reached out said they had no objection to it. The city seems to have no objection. So we'll entertain a motion on the finding of facts for e two. Motion motion by board member jimenez. Second. >> second by board member venire. Solomon. Solomon doesn't matter. A joint second uh all in favor aye aye. F one hearings pending list as of MAY 5th 2026 board members take note. Um. As uh our next board meeting is next tuesday, MAY 5th MAY 12th 2026. We have two hearings scheduled. H today's hearings h one we have an appeal hearing on behalf of daniel crocker police officer concerning his ten hour suspension effective JULY 19th, 2024. Good morning on behalf of officer daniel crocker from the south florida police benevolent association. Good morning. >> good morning again. We are ready to go forward. I've made an attempt to with the city to try and resolve this matter before today's hearing for probably a few months now and I don't believe that we've been able to reach an agreement. Okay city. >> no. The city is ready to move forward. City is ready to move forward. You're ready to move forward. Um would would a two minute recess is there any possibility of any kind of a coming to an understanding [Laughter] A last second ditch before you come before a board. I can. Yeah, we can have a two minute recess. I also um I wanted to address the chair if we can bring back up MR. Mina's case. I just have a quick request. I know that the board granted him a hearing if we can set it in AUGUST if possible. I know he said that the charges are all going to be dropped by next month. Everything is going to be done so if we can get a quicker date I think would be beneficial for everyone. I believe that they're going to try and retain a lawyer, so I think AUGUST would probably be a better option for them to try and. Um would. Would would you mind coming back up? So the city is asking so we've granted the hearing and they're asking us if we could try to expedite it if our schedule allows to schedule you for a hearing in AUGUST. Um is that something i mean maybe we want to discuss it with your father and see if that's something that would work with you guys. And I'll go. >> forward on this. I think. That would be AUGUST 4th or. Would AUGUST. >> 4th I think is the. Date no 18th we have three hearing scheduled. Oh I we do have cases set on the 18th but is there a hearing on. >> the the other. There's a meeting on. AUGUST 4th. >> AUGUST 4th yes. >> okay that's fine, that's fine. AUGUST 4th work. That works. With AUGUST 4th work that works okay it seems they're in agreement so we'll try to then schedule them for AUGUST 4th. [Laughter] Thank you. >> perfect. Thank you. Do. [Laughter] You like my. Secretary steal it? Yeah we do any kind of like that. She likes that she just takes it oh thank you. Thank you. So two minute recess before we start the hearing. >> yeah. See if there's any way you guys can come to a an agreement [Laughter] There on this ten hour. Uh. >> thank you. Familiar? who wants to proffer the good news? Okay. >> officially. I'm sorry, are we officially back on the record? Yes. >> we're officially back on. Okay. >> um, I've spoken to the department and at this time they're going to be rescinding the ten hour, um, ten hour suspension but keeping it as a reprimand so it's moot for civil service right now. I'll prepare the memo and everything and send it over. Um so everyone has a copy of it. Congratulations. >> we're we're all in agreement. Yes. >> great. >> what a great what a great day. Yes. >> is there any if there's no other um orders of business or any other discussion we'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion motion by member second by board member solomon all in favor? Aye. >> see you all next week MAY 12th for our next civil service board [Music] Meeting. >> see you next week. Thank